Inflation Fears Drove Larger Fed Rate Increase in June

WASHINGTON—Federal Reserve officials agreed at their meeting last month they would have to raise interest rates faster and to levels high enough to slow economic growth because of the worsening inflation picture.

Officials voted to raise their benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage point in June, a bigger increase than their half-point move in May and the largest hike since 1994. Officials expected they would raise rates by either a half percentage point or 0.75 point at their gathering later this month, according to minutes from the Fed’s June 14-15 meeting, released Wednesday.